Americans hold off Saskatoon to end 3-game slide

It’s been two weeks since the Tri-City Americans last played at Toyota Center.

They celebrated their return Friday night by holding off the Saskatoon Blades 4-3 and ending a three-game slide.

Jordan Topping had two goals and an assist in handing the Blades their second consecutive loss to start their swing through the U.S. Division.

“It was a nice way to start being back here again,” Topping said. “It was a nice win against these guys. It’s great to be back home with the fans. It makes it easier to play.”

The Blades (16-25-3-0, 35 points), playing without leading scorer Cameron Hebig (upper-body injury) put up three goals in the third — two by Braylon Shmyr — to make of game of it going down to the wire.

Topping’s second goal of the night gave the Americans a 4-1 lead as well as the extra goal they needed down the stretch.

“We got away from what we were doing,” Tri-City coach Mike Williamson said. “We talked about it after the second. We started turning the puck over, and they were forechecking hard. We needed to get back to the way we were playing. They got that first goal, and it gave them life. We were fortunate to get that fourth goal.”

The Americans (18-23-2-0, 38 points) put plenty of pressure on Blades goalie Evan Smith in the first period, outshooting Saskatoon 14-4, but they could not get anything past the 6-foot-6 netminder.

“This was much needed,” Williamson said of the win. “I really liked our start. We were strong in the first even though we didn’t get on the scoreboard. We need that kind of start every night.”

With Parker Bowles serving a double minor for roughing, the Americans opened the second short-handed, but that didn’t stop the momentum.

The Americans scored three goals — two short-handed — in a span of 1 minute, 37 seconds.

Beau McCue started the scoring parade, knocking the puck away from Blades defenseman Libor Hajek at the blue line and heading up ice. McCue hit Topping coming down the right side, and Topping buried the puck for a his first short-handed goal at 2:25.

Max James made it 2-0 at 2:58, taking advantage of a turnover in front of the Saskatoon net.

Smith played the puck out the corner and slid it behind the net to defenseman Dustin Perillat in the opposite corner. Perillat brought the puck out front, but lost control. James had an open net to score his second goal of the season.

Just 14 seconds later, Bowles, fresh out of the penalty box, took a pass from McCue and beat Evans on the baseline for his 25th of the season and a 3-0 lead.

McCue finished with two assists to run his point streak to six games, while Evan Sarthou had 20 saves in picking up the win.

Prospect update

Carson Focht was named to team Canada for the Youth Olympic Winter games. Focht, a 6-foot, 152-pound forward from Regina, Saskatchewan, was the Americans’ first-round pick (7th overall) in the 2015 WHL bantam draft.

Focht is one of eight WHL prospects selected for the event, which will take place Feb. 12-21 in Lillehammer, Norway.

This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 10:49 PM with the headline "Americans hold off Saskatoon to end 3-game slide."